DESCRIPTIVE DICTIONARIES IN ARABIC AND PERSIAN

This article intends to shed some light on some of the many problems of compiling Arabic and Persian dictionaries. Considering that the Persian language enjoys a 1000-year heritage of poetry and prose, it is predictable how cumbersome a task this might be. Although it is worth noting that Arabic language had descriptive dictionaries since a long time ago, but have already overcome many of its prevailing difficulties.Compiling descriptive and comprehensive dictionaries for a language with an old history is important for three major reasons: First, the more civilized a nation is, the more its understanding of different concepts and therefore the more its needs for words and lexicons that can convey those meanings and concepts. Second, a “word” is the main component of any language and literature since oral or written works, poetry or prose, and grammar of any language is based on “words”. Third, a “word”, like a nation, has cultural, historic, and social past. If a “word” is void of past, the remaining is “stranger” with no past or history. In short, for these reasons compiling a dictionary for a language such as Persian becomes difficult.